Friday, April 16, 2010

Last week we took two outings, and both our dogs came with us. That was partly because I needed some dog models for pictures to accompany an article, and partly because the weather was no nice. Unfortunately, on the first outing my border collie took a spill jumping out of my husband's truck (we didn't see the fall, just the dirt all over the side of her face). The girl's paw injury wasn't healed when we drove up to Red Rock, but we didn't know that until she had walked for a while. Then she sat down and whinned, so she got carried back to the truck. Talk about a dog's life.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Recently, I wrote a post for NileGuide about Aria, the hotel casino at City Center. City Center is the Strip's newest incarnation, the mixed-use development every high-rise wanted to be, back in the days of the "Manhattanization" of Las Vegas. One of the things I mentioned in my post was that Las Vegas is new to the mixed-use idea--hotels, shops, residences, restaurants, entertainment, business areas, and livable, walkable spaces--but City Center isn't the only mixed-use development in town (although it's certainly the largest and most luxurious). The District, adjacent to Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, is a smaller, more modest-sized collection of stores, restaurants, condos, movie theaters, and (of course) a casino at Green Valley Ranch. If you're looking for that chic, wanderable urban feeling in the Las Vegas 'burbs, it's worth checking out.

There's a new free weekly in town, Vegas Seven. It's like Las Vegas Weekly, only with more fashion and general interest articles. It's mildly like City Life, only without the political slant or the adults-only ads in the back. Vegas Seven is available at newsstands around Southern Nevada and at the library. It's loaded with articles and blurbs about restaurants, performers, nightclubs, and things to do, along with a heap of full-page ads for things like Grey Goose vodka and the Jaguar dealership. Vegas Seven's mix of local events and general interest pieces seems like a good way to appeal to both residents and visitors. Next time you're at the 7-Eleven, grab a copy._________________Photo of Las Vegas Strip, 2004, courtesy of Joakim Syversen at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/217292

Thursday, April 01, 2010

I played my very first game of bingo a couple of nights ago. There I was with my dauber and a nifty little computer screen, and boy, was I lost. The bingo room ladies probably talked about me later because I was so clueless. I had no idea there was more than one way to make bingo--six packs and nine packs, along with other configurations. I was on one of the last three games before I got all that figured out. And who knew there would be an entire sheet of "cards" for me to frantically scan, searching for B Whatever That Number Was? When I got home, my husband asked me, "Did you win?"

"No. At least I don't think so. I might have had a bingo, but I was too confused to be sure," I told him.

I don't gamble much, but I felt certain I could grasp bingo. Turns out keeping up with those alphanumerics is tougher than I thought. I was almost embarrassed. Me, a Las Vegas native and the daughter of a serious gambler, confused by bingo? Scandalous. I can live without understanding doubling down in 21, and I've never had a desire to learn Texas hold 'em, but... bingo? After putting big blue blots all over my cards, but never in the pattern necessary to shout out that magic word, I consoled myself with a few nickels in the poker machine, and went home. Who knew bingo had a learning curve?_____________Photo courtesy of sarae: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarae/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

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